Chapter 14 – Hail Mary

I slump down next to the tunnel wall, pinching the bridge of my nose as I try to collect my thoughts. I screwed that one up royally. I can’t believe those players just happened to receive an escort quest that just happened to be about bringing the widow back to her home at that exact time. What are the odds? I was only in there for like ten minutes. Fifteen more, and I would have been long gone. Was this the reason the difficulty rating was higher than most tutorial quests? Did the quest have some sort of invisible timer?

I sigh. Whining about things I can do nothing about won’t help me. I need to analyze what good came of it, and how I can rectify it in the future. First of all, I need to be more wary about unforeseen consequences. If the target returns back home in the middle of the heist, then I need to take some precautions. Perhaps next time, I shouldn’t toss the living room first, and instead, have a few rogues hidden in the shadows to quickly and efficiently eliminate anyone who stumbles upon us. What just happened was sloppy, and I should know better.

When the players arrived, I was unprepared. I should have had a larger secondary force outside, ready to assault them in a surprise, two-pronged attack. My Spotter did an amazing job breaking up their blockade of the door, but I didn’t manage to successfully intercept and kill them before they discovered I was a Thief Lord.

Ah, yeah. I shouldn’t have revealed myself. While I’m certain my cover remains intact thanks to my Villain’s Mask, that doesn’t mean the players couldn’t gain other information from seeing me. While the Villain’s Mask does hide my identity, it doesn’t change my general appearance or clothes. If I’m going to be this reckless in the future, then I might as well just pack up my shit and give up now.

I sigh as I get back onto my feet. The alarm bell is still ringing outside, so I figure I have to lay low for a while. I need to figure out what my next move is. The smartest option would probably be to hide my underlings down here while I head up into the Tavern and rent a room for the night. The problem with this plan, however, is that the other players should be on high alert. There is no way for me to know if any Perception-based players aren’t already swarming the streets above. I could, of course, stay down here and kill rats for a few hours, but the Dark Pegasus guild knows about these sewers. If they are truly on high alert, then what is stopping them from coming down here and look for me? It would be impossible for me to hide, and I doubt I could put up much of a fight against a bunch of high-level players.

I frown as I try to come up with a better option, but I get nothing. They are both risky choices, so I figure I should just do what gives me the best short term reward. Killing rats for a few hours and level up.

Content with my choice, I get to my feet with a smile on my face. I’m about to order my underlings to start hunting when a familiar chime rings in my head.

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Hey Ryan, where are you at?]

I furrow my brows. That’s an odd coincidence. I need to tread carefully here.

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: Hello, Anna. I’m currently sightseeing in the city. What’s the matter?]

I have learned from my previous mistake, and I have given a lot of thought into possible responses and lies I can tell that won’t raise any suspicions of where I am, who I am, or what I’m doing. Actually, I have created an entirely fictive persona about the enigma that is Rynorn Stabberton.

Since I have already sort of stumbled into being portrayed as a fifty-three-year-old man, I decided to just roll with it. If anyone asks, I am Raymond Wells, an office clerk from Manchester, England. I have a deep fascination with contraptions and the art of engineering, and I am currently obsessed with developing ingame traps. I have a grown daughter studying medicine in London, and my late wife died of cancer last year. Due to my grief, I prefer not to talk about my real life.

It’s simple, relatable, and it hopefully won’t raise any eyebrows. Nothing is as boring as a middle-aged man going through a late mid-life crisis after all. At least, that’s what dad usually says.

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Oh, so you haven’t heard? A lot is going down in the noob district at the moment. The whole guild is riled up about it.]

Oh no. That doesn’t sound good. I can feel a knot starting to tie in my chest.

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: Yes, I can hear the bells. Is it something bad?]

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Yeah, it seems like someone spotted a Thief Lord, and I wondered if you had seen anything suspicious. My whole party is on our way to try and root them out.]

Oh crap. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: They are sending a single party of high-level players to kill a player in the noob district? That sounds a little like overkill, doesn’t it?]

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Oh it’s not just us. My sister brought in over sixty people to do a full purge of the entire noob district.]

…

WHAT!?

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: Oh, alright. It sounds like you kids have your hands full. Is there anything I can do to help?]

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Thanks, Ryan. The guild chatter says the Thief Lord is a female dwarven mage. You wouldn’t happen to have seen anyone who matches that description, have you?]

A female dwarf? What the-... I frown as I scratch my head. Are they really looking for me? Who the hell would play as a dwarven Thief Lord… are they idiots?

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: No, I can’t say that I have…]

I hesitate for a moment, until a quick idea springs in my mind.

[Rynorn Stabberton writes: Actually, I did see a female dwarf when I went sightseeing. I met her near a small stone balcony overlooking the ocean to the south, next to the keep. I had a lovely conversation with her about rock climbing. Lovely lady. Could she be the one you are looking for?]

[Anna’el Windrider writes: Oh! That might be it! Thanks a lot, Ryan! If I find her, I’ll be sure to split the reward with you. I gotta go. Ttyl! <3]

Oh shit. Was lying like that a mistake? What happens when they don’t find a dwarven female? No matter. I have bigger fish to fry. No, actually, I have an entire whale, three sharks, and a dozen goldfish to fry. If over sixty players are looking for me, then I doubt they will give up easily. That sort of manpower means they are serious. I need to get out of the noob district as fast as I possibly can.

But how will I do that? The wagon idea is a complete bust. There is no way they won’t be triple checking anything that goes through that gate tonight. Finding some sort of jump or rock climbing skill is also far too unrealistic, as I neither have the time, nor the patience to grind such a boring skill, and the steel grate is as solid and impenetrable as ever. How else can I get past? By force? Ridiculous. I would be torn apart before even making it near the gate. Then what else is there?

I start massaging my temples as I run a bunch of scenarios through my head, each one riskier than the other. Each and every one of them ending in my bloody death.

“If only there was some sort of skill…” I mutter as I feel a headache starting to build. “Something that could hide my identity for just long enough for me to be able to walk past the guards. Something like what my Beggar has.” I frown, feeling the stress get to me. If I could just trade places with my Beggar for a few minutes, all my problems would be solved. But that idea is ridi-...

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

...

Hold on. Hold on one moment. I squint as my mind races. Wasn’t there a skill for this? I quickly open up my Thief Lord skill list, scrolling down until I find the skill I am looking for.

Doppelganger – Instantaneously switch position with an Underling. Range: 1 meter + 0,2 * Skill level.

Cooldown: 10 Minutes - 5 seconds per Skill level.

That’s it. That’s the hail mary I’ve been looking for! I grin as I quickly come up with a plan. My Beggar should easily be able to just walk straight past the guards at the entrance. If he could then make his way down to the shoreline and find the sewers exit, then walk up to the grate from the other side, then I can just use this skill and switch places with him! I already know the sewer exit is near the ocean because of the puddle of seawater I saw in the tunnel earlier. It should also be accessible from the outside since someone should have actually been able to construct the sewers in the first place. Also, the skill description says nothing about being unable to switch places through solid objects. It’s perfect! This can actually work!

Or maybe it’s too simple?

Damn. The Dark Pegasus guild has already invested considerable resources into all this. Could they have predicted this all along? Possibly. The Doppelganger skill has a severe distance limitation which makes it pretty much useless as a means to escape anywhere else than past the grate. I wouldn’t be able to use it to manually make my way down the steep cliffs surrounding the peninsula, neither would I be able to sneak past the guards near the district’s only exit. Surely, using Doppelganger to get past the grate must have crossed their minds, but what if it doesn’t matter? I already know that they think the sewers are a secret to no one but a select few in their guild. I also know that it’s hard to predict that a Thief Lord figured out how to get past it, even if they knew about the sewers to begin with. There are dozens of Villain classes to account for, and I don’t recall any other class has the means for short-range teleportation. How can they know if I’m even able to get someone on the other side of the grate to actually swap places with? There are too many variables for them to be able to account for everything.

I think this could work. Worst case scenario: the Dark Pegasus guild installed a second grate further back, making it impossible for me to sneak an underling past to begin with. They could also have placed a guard on the other side, but that seems highly unlikely. Hiring players to guard a secret entrance must be ridiculously expensive. And that’s not even considering it would make it harder to keep the sewers a secret for long. Setting up a second grate must also be expensive; at least until their player blacksmiths are of a high enough level to make grates of their own. The city is huge, with lots of entrances to the city from both land and sea. Freshly spawned Villains is the least of their concern. Their resources must be spread thin all across the city. I also bet that in the future, when the sewers do become common knowledge, the player population down in the sewers would be dense enough for it to be impossible for a Villain to fight through them all without getting spotted. There is no better alarm system than people after all.

I snort. I think this might work! What do I have to lose by trying? Nothing. If this plan is to work, then I have a lot to do. First of all, I need to hurry up and reach level three, and I need to get hold of my Beggar. I could almost kiss myself for ordering my Beggar to report to me every three hours, which by now means that he should arrive in about an hour or so. Hopefully, I can stay hidden for long enough. Completing the heist also gave me a large chunk of experience going towards level 3, and it shouldn’t take too many rat kills for me to reach it.

Which reminds me, I should probably check the quest notification.

The Job: A Widow’s Grief is Successful!

Subtle as a cat or violent as a thug. Thief Lords can do either. You managed to secure your objective without killing the wife. While combat was inevitable, you did not handle it with grace, and the streets of Drenerys run red with the blood of Travellers this night.

Rewards: 150 Experience, (7) Pieces of equipment, (13) Crafting reagents, (2) Miscellaneous Items, 2 Gold, 8 Silver, 8 Copper.

[Mentor has leveled up to Novice 3.]

[Calm has leveled up to Novice 2.]

That’s… That’s better than I expected, I frown. How did I gain so many rewards? I look over towards my underlings, sort of expecting the mute men to respond. Almost as if on cue, the three underlings pull several items out of their own inventories. With a befuddled expression, I inspect the items.

[Officer Guardsman’s Shortsword. Uncommon. 8-10 Slashing Damage, +2 Strength, +2 Agility. Requires: Level 4. *Contraband*]

[Officer Guardsman’s Chainmail Set. Uncommon. +45% Physical Resistance, Per level gain: +2 Endurance, +1 Strength, +1 Perception, +0,5 Agility, +0,5 Dexterity, +0,5 Charisma. Requires: NPC, Fighter Class. *Contraband*]

[Painting. Novelty Item. #21. *Contraband*]

6x [Flour. Common Cooking Ingredient.]

3x [Egg. Common Cooking Ingredient.]

4x [Pork. Common Cooking Ingredient.]

[1 Gold coin, 2 Silver.]

What the… Loot! I forgot they could steal things on their own as well! I grin. This is fantastic. It seems like my Cutpurse found the late guardsman’s weapon and armor in one of the side rooms, while the Hoodlum raided the kitchen for ingredients and swiped a painting from the living room. They both found a few coins as well. If I wasn’t currently stuck in a serious situation, I would be thrilled. Who knew heists could be this lucrative?

I stash the items in my inventory and order my underlings to get moving. I can sort all these items out later, but now I have things to do. As we move further down the tunnel, I decide to open up the basic information from my status page.

Status:

Name: Rynorn Stabberton - Class: Thief Lord (Trap Maker)

Race: Halfling - Level: 2

Health: 50 - Mana: 220

Experience: 260/300 - Renown: N/A

After completing the quest, I’m not far from leveling up. I only have forty exp to go, which should only amount to killing six or seven rats. That should only take me about twenty to twenty-five minutes. That leaves me half an hour to wait for my Beggar to reappear. I’m not sure how much time I have left until the Dark Pegasus guild finds me down here, but I know I have to make it snappy.

We pick up the pace as the low-level sewer rats hardly put up a fight against my well-armed underlings. It’s more like a massacre than a fight really, as the rats were never supposed to be strong monsters in the first place. It only takes us a little less than twenty minutes to jog through the majority of the sewers, slaughtering over half a dozen rats.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 3!]

[You have gained 3 free Attribute Points and 1 Skill Point!]

The familiar blue window appears as expected, and I waste no time in putting my new skill point into acquiring Doppelganger, as well as placing two attribute points into Luck and one into Charisma. Since I am finally able to equip the jewelry from the heist, with another point into Charisma, I’ll have thirty points in total. This both increases my attributes by leaps and bounds and will allow me to recruit two new underlings as soon as I can find another tavern in the city somewhere. I open up my attributes page, confirming my sudden spike in power.

Attributes:

Strength: 5(5-10%) - Endurance: 5 - Agility: 5(5+1-10%)

Dexterity: 19(5+4+13/75%) - Perception: 5 - Intelligence: 28(5+30/75%)

Wisdom: 5 - Charisma: 30(21+6+10%) - Luck: 13(10+2+10%)

Unassigned attribute points: 0.

My character is starting to shape up nicely.

As much I would love to just stay down here and grind rats for the remainder of the night, I need to start making preparations for meeting my Beggar. I refuse to be caught with my pants around my ankles again, and I need to come up with a proper plan. I make my way over towards the exit behind the tavern. This is the place I ordered my Beggar to show up near, and it’s also the exit I’m most familiar with.

If I am ever going to be able to pull off this act of desperation I’m calling a plan, then I need this meeting to go smoothly. I can already taste victory. Only a little over half an hour to go.

What could go wrong?